Phonetics in the Beginning and Intermediate Oral Proficiency- Oriented French Classroom

Abstract

MUCH ATTENTION HAS BEEN FOCUSED in recent years on the Oral approach to second language teaching. Many articles describe classroom activities which develop oral proficiency at the beginning and intermediate levels of language study and others address the question of testing oral proficiency at these levels. Notably lacking from the literature is, however, a discussion of the acquisition of good pronunciation habits in the beginning and intermediate oral proficiency-oriented classroom. This is curious in light of the key role played by pronunciation in the early phase of language study. Students completing the first year of college-level language should be able to perform at the Novice-High level in speaking (using the ACTFL rating scale) (James 5; Magnan Speaking Proficiency 433) and at the Intermediate-Mid level by the end of the fourth semester college course (Magnan Speaking Proficiency 430, 434; Freed 140). In all of the official descriptions of the Novice and Intermediate speakers, the importance of pronunciation is evident. The Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR),1 Clifford and Lowe's of oral proficiency, and The Educational Testing Service (ETS) Oral Manual all describe the lower levels of oral proficiency in terms of intelligibility (Lowe 24, 28; ETS 29). Since correct grammar and vocabulary without reasonably correct pronunciation are unintelligible, it follows that at these levels, intelligibility depends largely on pronunciation. The ACTFL provisional generic descriptions of speaking provide more detail about pronunciation, using the terms phonemes, articulation, stress, and intonation. It is generally agreed that the three parts of the Functional Trisection (functions, content, and accuracy) are equally important and that classroom activities should be based on various combinations of all of them (see, for example, Heilenmane and Kaplan 60). Yet, of the numerous proficiencyoriented activities published, virtually none addresses the question of acquiring good pronunciation habits.2 At the same time, it is clear that many teachers realize the importance of pronunciation at the beginning and

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